The Old Republic: All I Want is the Cutscenes

The latest trailer for Star Wars: The Old Republic has been released and it’s freaking awesome. This follows previous cut-scene and video releases that have been similarly impressive, engaging and enjoyable. However, with the game looking a bit duff, I’m wondering if Electronic Arts, Bioware and LucasArts could be persuaded into releasing a cut-scene-only version? I’d happily pay to watch a short film made from them.

If you’re not sure what I’m on about, have a look at the Star Wars: The Old Republic intro cinematic (watch it in fullscreen mode) above, then the other trailers (not the gameplay videos) and come back.

See what I mean? They’re much more reminiscent of the original trilogy than the rubbish prequel films. There’s a focus on people that you readily recognise and empathise with overcoming obstacles; the classic setup for injecting drama and interest into a scene or story. Furthermore, there’s absolutely no mention of trade disputes, midi-sodding-chlorians or annoying lizard-rabbits.

In fact, some of the intros' cinematic characters are really close to those of Episodes IV to VI. There’s a dependable droid that happily receives rushed instructions, and it’s on a ship with dingy, circular corridors and laser-cannon pods. Then there’s the pilot of this ship – he’s instantly introduced as a likeable yet roguish smuggler, and his attire hardly suggests otherwise. He even seems to steal Han’s dialogue: his is the fastest ship in the fleet, even though it might not look like much. All we need is a co-pilot with a shaving phobia and we’re done.

But who cares if Bioware is borrowing heavily from the source material to produce something this fun? Arguably, the mistake that George Lucas made with his prequels was refusing to follow his own conventions. We wanted a bit more of the same please, not some confused reinterpretation of the Universe we’d spent the last however many years discussing in detail.

So when the ‘trader’ ship blasts through the Imperial turbo laser, rushes through its guts, and then hits its hyperdrive, we’re cheering on the crew. When the Jedi master Force-pulls the second lightsaber to him, we’re given a moment to consider the great duel that’s about to ensue.

Even the cutting and pacing between the personal fight between Jedi and Sith and the action on the not-Millenium Falcon is so reminiscent of The Empire Strikes Back that it can’t fail to make Star Wars fans happy. The trailer even conveys emotion brilliantly – Malcus exudes rage as he stalks towards the Jedi master and bats away his defence, while you can read the thoughts of his Padawan perfectly well after his death.

So please, can we just have the cinematics to watch, and leave the MMO to WoW deserters? Please?

Similar is good. Same is bad. The point many people are making is that this trailer sounds, looks, and plays similarly to many scenes from the films. So similarly that you may as well just watch the films again. The trailer is good, but the films are still better. While we have a lack of information to work with right now, if the rest of the plot in this game continues at the same level of similarity, it will be entirely boring, predictable and feel like a fat streak of dejavu.

You're not the first person i've seen suggest this, there was a whole thread about it on the SWTOR forums. In fact you might even be crucified there for stating it was more similar to the original trilogy by people arguing that Jedi/Sith never pranced about with the acrobatic lightsaber moves over there :D (in fact, over there that's a debate in itself as to whether or not Lucas had meant them to be slow, mental battles or simply didn't have access to properly capture it).

I do find it a little disappointing that there's such a disparity between the game and the trailer however it's not the first time i've seen something in a cutscene and been like "Hey, I can't do that in game!" (although in this case you actually can, it just doesn't look as nice as its portrayed).

+ You're slightly off the mark with the cutscene comment i believe Clive (unless you know something i don't ? :D), the previous trailers are exactly that, simply trailers and not cutscenes within the game. The "Return" Cinematic itself is the opening movie that players will see when first loading up the game. I believe all other cutscenes in the game are rendered using the ingame engine.

The trailer, even as short as it is, is better than the last three Star Wars movies. Which says something about how crap the prequels were.

All things considered though I think Bioware don't need to have a good game to present their stories. I mean if you deconstruct the Mass Effect games, they do not offer much in terms of game-play. Linear 3rd person cover shooter, plus minigames. Yet Mass Effect 2 is the greatest game ever. Why? Story.

This is exactly why people lapped up Knights of the Old Republic - hey, it's a bad RPG with broken combat mechanics, bad dialogue, and a horrible railroaded story, but look how much **** they ripped off from the original trilogy! The Millennium, Tattooine, the Death Star, Darth Vader, Dantooine, Yoda, etc. are all in there... we just gave them different names!

I don't want more of the same old Star Wars. I want something that puts the existing canon to good use without just ripping off the old stuff, while at the same time not being absolutely ****ing terrible.

Originally Posted by searThis is exactly why people lapped up Knights of the Old Republic - hey, it's a bad RPG with broken combat mechanics, bad dialogue, and a horrible railroaded story, but look how much **** they ripped off from the original trilogy! The Millennium, Tattooine, the Death Star, Darth Vader, Dantooine, Yoda, etc. are all in there... we just gave them different names!

I don't want more of the same old Star Wars. I want something that puts the existing canon to good use without just ripping off the old stuff, while at the same time not being absolutely ****ing terrible.

I'm sorry but in no way would i ever call KoTOR a bad RPG, if by broken mechanics you meant based on the well established DnD 3.0 system then you're missing something. No, dialogue wasn't the best but it was better than most of the stuff out there and the story was somewhat cliché but had an interesting twist and delivered what was expected of the IP. The fact that it's lauded as one of the best RPGs let alone Star Wars game ever created puts you in a very small minority of people.

And whereas you see rip off of various things, i see homages and numerous references to the different era (where the Jedi are prevalent and the Sith aren't simply "a group of two").

What exactly would be your definition of the same old Star Wars? No Jedi? No Lightsabers? Nothing that makes the Star Wars universe what it is?

However most people put their faith in Bioware and IMO they've done it justice.

I think that it's got a nice balance of MMO features (Raids, Flashpoints etc.) but with the traditional Bioware twist of Storytelling and character development on a personal level.

The only thing i'm worried about is that it might alienate members on more extreme sides of the scale (i.e. those who don't want anything to do with MMOs at all, and those who don't care about Story/Bioware style RPGs).

Blur Studios are absolutely amazing, their Star Wars The Old Republic trilogy of trailers has been stunning and I wish there was some way they could get the finance and time to make a full movie like this, it would be fantastic.